Chapter 8

"What if I say no?"

Shen Lu sighed, as though she'd expected that.

"Jiang Si, this isn't a matter of what you want. The system has rules. Your memories must be erased. It's procedure."

"Procedure."

I repeated the word, leaned back and looked at her.

"Then tell me why agents can keep entering my world. This one spent six months here. Will there be a second? A third?"

Shen Lu was silent for a second.

"This is a normal intervention when system monitoring detects a deviation in the world's trajectory."

"Normal?" I cut her off. "You think it's normal to find some random person, let her take my body, use my face and live my life?"

I wasn't speaking loudly, but every word burned.

"She dyed my hair black. Threw out all my clothes. Spent the money in my account until there were only two thousand yuan left. She slept in my bed, used my name and put on that fake smile for the people around me."

I didn't look at Qin Wu, but I felt him stir.

"Then she failed and walked away. Now you're telling me you want my memories, too. What gives you the right?"

Shen Lu's expression didn't change.

"Jiang Si, I understand how you feel. But if this bug isn't fixed, the system will classify this world as unstable. When that happens..."

"You'll send more agents." I finished for her. "So are you here to help me, or deliver the system's message?"

She didn't answer.

For three seconds, she said nothing.

Then she did something I hadn't expected at all.

She smiled.

Nothing like the gentle expression she'd worn before. There was a cold, inorganic quality to it.

Not human.

Mechanical.

"Jiang Si, you're cleverer than the mission records suggest."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning..." She stood, braced both hands on the table and looked down at me. "You're right. This world is full of holes. But have you ever wondered why the agents keep getting in?"

A sudden foreboding rose inside me.

The comments began to panic.

【What does she mean???】

【Isn't she a system maintenance worker???】

Shen Lu raised a hand and spread her fingers.

Ripples appeared in the air, as though a stone had been dropped into water.

They spread from her palm. The light throughout the café began to warp.

I sprang to my feet.

Qin Wu moved, too.

He caught my wrist and pulled me behind him.

"Jiang Si, don't let go."

But it was too late.

An enormous force slammed into me, like a truck hitting me head-on.

My body jerked backward, but it didn't feel like falling.

It felt as though something was being ripped out of me.

Pain.

Not physical pain.

The pain of a soul being torn forcibly from its body.

I looked down.

My hands were turning transparent.

No. Not my hands.

My soul was being pulled out.

14

The comments went mad.

【FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!】

【What is this? This wasn't in the story!!】

I tried to scream. No sound came out.

My vision blurred as though a veil of mist had fallen across it.

Through that haze, I saw my body slump to one side.

Qin Wu released my wrist and turned to catch it.

What he held was my body.

My soul was being dragged into the air by Shen Lu.

Then I saw it.

Beside that empty body, the air distorted again.

A translucent human shape slowly appeared.

First its outline. Then features, hair, clothes, color.

A woman.

Long, straight black hair. White dress. Bare face.

She opened her eyes, looked down at her hands and smiled.

So gently.

Exactly like Shen Lu's smile a moment ago.

The comments exploded.

【ANOTHER AGENT?!】

【Fuck, I get it. That's why they had to erase Jiang Si's memories. How else could they stuff a new agent into her body?】

I floated in the air, watching the new agent take over—

No. Prepare to take over my body.

Holding my limp body, Qin Wu looked up.

His expression was calm.

Far too calm for someone who had just witnessed all this.

"Shen Lu."

He called her name.

She turned and smiled.

"Qin Wu, there's no point fighting. This world has been restarted so many times. Every time, you notice something wrong. Every time, you fight back. But in the end..." She shrugged, smiling maliciously. "In the end, you always forget."

The comments went silent.

So did I.

Restarted so many times?

This wasn't the first?

Shen Lu spoke to Qin Wu as casually as if discussing the weather.

"Did you think this was the first time you'd noticed something wrong with an agent? You notice every time. That's why I have to erase the original's memories before you catch on. But this time, you've prepared."

She looked up at me, suspended in the air, a flicker of appreciation in her eyes.

"And you're cleverer than you've ever been before."

Ever been before.

My heart sank.

This wasn't the first time.

She'd restarted this world countless times.

The comments were silent.

No frantic messages. No laughter.

Everyone was stunned.

Shen Lu looked away and turned back to my empty body.

"All right. Time to reset. This time I'll remember to erase her memories..."

"You won't get another chance."

15

Qin Wu spoke very softly. The entire café was still.

With one arm supporting my body, he reached into his jacket with his other hand.

He took out a tiny silver sphere.

Its surface was densely engraved with patterns like circuit diagrams.

The instant Shen Lu saw it, her expression changed.

"What is that?"

"Guess." Qin Wu said, "I spent six months preparing it."

She stepped back. Her fingertips twitched, as though she were summoning some power.

But Qin Wu was faster.

He threw the sphere onto the floor.

The moment it struck, it burst open.

Countless hair-thin beams shot out, spreading like a web over the floor, walls and ceiling.

The light passed through everything.

Tables, chairs, coffee cups, the counter. Shen Lu herself.

She looked down at the beams running through her body. Surprise turned to fear.

"Signal... blocking?!"

"Yes."

Qin Wu stood, carefully propped my limp body against the back of a chair and turned to her.

"Every time you contact an agent, you emit a signal at a particular frequency. I've spent countless six-month stretches deciphering your signal band and designing this reverse jammer."

He stepped forward. Light flowed beneath his feet.

"Now you can't establish a connection with any agent. And you can't draw energy from any living thing in this world."

Shen Lu's face changed completely.

She tried to move, but the beams pinned her in place like invisible chains.

"You think that's enough?" she ground out. "Even if I'm blocked, there are still things left in this world from before—"

"I know," Qin Wu interrupted. "That's why blocking you isn't all it does."

He crouched and picked up the exposed core of the sphere.

A tiny core giving off a faint glow.

"This device has a second function. Capture."

Shen Lu's eyes widened.

Qin Wu held the core toward her.

Light.

Dazzling light.

White flooded the café.

I couldn't see what happened. I only heard a piercing shriek, as though something were being compressed and forced into a space far too small.

When the light faded, Shen Lu was gone.

Only the sphere's core remained on the floor, a pale-gold current flowing inside it.

Qin Wu bent and picked it up.

Floating above him, I looked at the ball of light in his hand.

Now nobody needed to explain.

It was as though some prophetic knowledge had entered me. I understood things I should never have known.

16

That was the system.

Again and again, it sent agents into this world. Again and again, it restarted everything. Again and again, it drained away energy.

Qin Wu and I were this little world's male and female leads.

We carried the fortune of the entire world.

Take my body. Win his love.

Transfer everything that belonged to us to the agent.

Then the system traded a few paltry rewards for everything its agent had stolen.

The system grew stronger. The world restarted more and more often.

Whenever we noticed something wrong, it posed as an administrator and erased our memories.

Formatted everything. Returned the world to its starting point.

Qin Wu looked down at the ball of light in his hand.

Its smooth surface gleamed against his palm.

Inside were both the system and the power it had drained from our world.

Then he closed his hand.

Crack.

A small movement. Like crushing a piece of candy.

The ball of light shattered.

Pale gold spilled out, scattering like fireflies.

The specks passed through the walls, ceiling and floor, flying in every direction.

As they vanished, I felt a subtle change.

As though a glass cage had finally been lifted from over us.

As though the air had suddenly become fresher.

As though... this world finally belonged to itself.

For a moment, the comments were silent.

Then a single line slowly appeared.

【The breach in the world's barrier is gone.】

And the comments vanished, too.

They were outsiders as well.

From now on, there would be no more agents.

No one would take my body again.

Never again.

"Jiang Si."

Qin Wu's voice came from below.

He stood among the fading lights and looked up at me.

"Come back."

At his words, I felt something descend.

My soul was slowly returning to my body.

Closer. Closer.

I closed my eyes.

My body was so heavy.

As though I'd woken from a long sleep, my limbs limp, all my strength gone.

I felt myself falling.

Then someone caught me.

I opened my eyes.

Qin Wu's face was right above mine. Very close.

His expression was as composed as ever, but I could see the anxiety flickering in his eyes.

He was afraid.

"It's over," I said hoarsely.

He said nothing. Only held me a little tighter.

I leaned against him and listened to his heartbeat.

A breeze set the café's wind chime ringing.

Sunlight through the window fell over my neon-green hair.

I closed my eyes.

"Qin Wu."

"Yes?"

"I want hot pot."

He was silent for a second. Then he laughed.

"All right. Nothing spicy."

"...You're so annoying."

(The End)